Bounties common in CFL

‘Fairly normal’ practice, former Argo Belli says

Player bounties are making headlines in the NFL but former CFL defensive tackle Adriano Belli says the practice is also commonplace in Canada.

“Players put up bounties all the time,” said Belli, a 10-year CFL veteran who retired last May after four seasons with the Argos.

“We all got per diem when we travelled, you’d get a couple of hundred bucks or even more depending on your contract for spending money on road trips.

“I’ve seen guys before the game put $100 a pop into a pot and go into the locker-room and say, ‘Okay, first sack or the first guy to knock the quarterback out of the game gets the pot.’ That’s fairly normal.”

Two CFL players currently in the league but requesting anonymity said that cash pools and bounties are alive and well in Canada.

“The thing with the Saints is it’s the first time I’ve heard of a coach being involved,” one player said. “It’s always something between us players.”

Late last week, an NFL investigation found between 22 and 27 New Orleans defensive players and former defensive co-ordinator Gregg Williams, now with the St. Louis Rams, maintained a bounty pool for three seasons that rewarded Saints defenders for knocking opponents out of games due to injury.

The league found the Saints targeted players such as quarterbacks Brett Favre and Kurt Warner.

If a player was knocked out of a game, the reward was $1,500 (U.S.). If he was carted off, it was $1,000. The NFL said the pool was as high as $50,000 or more in 2009, the year the Saints won the Super Bowl.

The NFL has yet to announce any sanctions but commissioner Roger Goodell is expected to come down hard on those involved.